dddave

Attacks on foreigners like this have been rare in my 20+ years coming to Pattaya but there seems to have been an uptick in them recently. Maybe one gang gets away with a successful grab, others follow. In my years here I've never once felt threatened but that doesn't mean it can't still happen, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Interesting. I just bought a car and was considering ordering prescription sunglasses for driving. Maybe I'll just stick with my hokey clip-on's.

If you go to a hospital ophthalmology department it's important you clearly specify you want a "Vision Test" and a prescription. If you say "Eye exam", you are likely to end-up getting a physical medical examination of your eyes, not a vision test. BTW. For progressive lenses, OP's prescription needs to include the PD (pupillary distance) I've been buying glasses online from Zenni for about 7 years and have had excellent results for surprisingly low prices. Delivery to Thailand usually takes about 2 weeks.

Sad way to go.

You call that a knife?

Maybe not for a night but be sure to visit "Coffee Wars", just off 331. It's a crazy place with several airliners converted to restaurants and what can only be called a Vietnam war scrapyard with an old school "Army-Navy" store attached.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my question. I ended up buying the 2014 Fiesta's chief rival, a 2014 Chevy Sonic with 100,000km on it. My sister in the US has a Chevy Spark, just a bit smaller than the Sonic and it's been a very reliable car. Also the price was right at B90,000.

I once bought a 2nd hand motorcycle that had sat in a barn for 5 to 10 years. The tires looked like they were new, still had the molding tags. I went out for my first ride fortunately not going very fast. A sudden lurch, then grinding and near loss of control. The rear tire was so hard and brittle, it had completely broken off the rim. I was pretty lucky and a lesson learned about what age can do to tires.

I have been hit with the scam outlined by Crossy twice, both times ordering Thinkpad laptops: one Lazada Thailand and just a few days ago, Lazada Philippines. First, I want to make clear that in both instances, Lazada was totally co-operative and refunded my money. The first instance, instead of a laptop I received a small plastic envelope with a "Jade" Necklace inside. Interestingly and this is important to note, the contents window on the envelope label stated the make and model of the laptop I had ordered. I immediately contacted Lazada and initiated a return. I then got an SMS from the seller, like the letter saying the necklace was a gift in compensation for the delivery being late and to expect the laptop in a few days. I called Lazada CS, asking if I should cancel the cancellation and the CS agent suggested I wait a few days. Of course no laptop ever arrived. The Philippines was pretty similar. The laptop was to be a Christmas gift. A small package enclosing a cheap ring was received, the package label declaring a laptop was inside. Again, I quickly initiated a cancellation with photos included of everything. Lazada did insist that the ring be returned to them which entailed dropping it at the express office. A full refund was issued the next day. I have successfully purchased several Lenovo Thinkpads on Lazada but it has always been from domestic sellers based in Thailand. Both instances of the scam were overseas Chinese sellers.

I'm over 80 and that's a big NAH!. Fat, crude & ugly is still fat, crude & ugly.

I just got an SMS on my personal mobile stating that a delivery attempt had been unsuccessful because they could not contact me. Thing is, I don't have any deliveries due. The message refers me to a website for "fir-line", the URL ending with ".cc" I had never seen .cc before. Google reveals it's the COCOS (KEELING) Islands, some Australian territory and that .cc URLs are being marketed because "they can be used in many different ways". Well, Yah. I have no idea what this little endeavor actually is but keep an eye out for .cc URLs.

I had a TCL 9000 btu unit installed in a bedroom 8 years ago. purchased at Thai Watsadu. Still running cold and quiet. gets professionally cleaned once a year.

These kind of mass immigrant labor busts always make me suspicious. Not unknown for the sub-contractors who hire these guys to "drop a dime" on their own workforce, usually just before payday. Police haul them away, contractor pockets the wages and soon hires a whole new workforce from the endless supply crossing the border.

Quite a few years ago, one of the local TV news stations had a video crew follow a pick-up truck just after dawn as it picked beggars up along Sukhumvit and Silom, then traveled down to Sa Keao and delivered them to an illegal crossing into Cambodia. Several of the "cripples" seemed to walk along just fine.

Actually, there was a major bust at one point. The "Asian Street Meat" guy and his partner were arrested but Thai law's hadn't caught-up at that point so rather than prison time, they were deported and declared PNG. I had heard he was also arrested in the Philippines but no corroboration. I do remember a time when a number of Soi-7 Biergarten regulars were easily found on the old X-Hamster.